Another Evergreen line sinkhole

Evergreen line executive project director Amanda Farrell says a large sinkhole has developed directly above the boring machine tunneling under Clark road.

When the last sinkhole developed assurances were given it was an isolated incident and wouldn’t happen again, yet here we are.

“Certainly we work closely with the contractor to do extensive addtional ground improvement work to prevent this. Unfortunately it has occured again. We certainly didn’t anticipate this happening and we will be looking very carefully at what has happened here and mitigating that going forward.”

Farrell says while they didn’t anticipate another sinkhole they kept a round the clock eye on the roadway.

“The crews released there w as an issue when there was a slight depression in the road. That is when we took action to initiate an investigation and repair.”

As for when Clark road will re-open for Southbound traffic.

“Well we need to get a handle on it. I can’t tell you how long it will take. Crews are therenow. As soon as we do have that information we will be putting out traffic bulletins and bringing people up to speed.”

Farrell says the roadway will only be re-opened when it is determined to be safe.

different soil conditions for different locations, no sinkholes occurred when the Canada Line was bored under False Creek. No sinkholes when the original tunnel now used by the Expo line was tunnelled from False Creek to Burrard Inlet way back when.